(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food compositions and, more particularly, to novel baby-food compositions comprising egg yolk and to methods of making and using the compositions.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Semi-solid baby-food compositions containing egg-yolk solids are currently available commercially in the United States and a number of other compositions not currently available are known to have been available in the past. However, all of these compositions have contained either a small amount of egg-yolk solids, i.e. less than 5%, or a large amount of egg-yolk solids, i.e. about 29% to 30% or more, neither of which is entirely satisfactory as a food source. The compositions containing less than 5% egg-yolk solids do not provide the amount of nutritional components available in the compositions having higher percentages of egg yolk, whereas, baby-food compositions with the higher percentages of egg yolk have had extremely poor taste and, as a result, they are no longer commercially available. Indeed, it is well known that infants typically reject cooked egg yolk, apparently because of its strong taste and gritty, mealy texture. Nevertheless, because egg-yolk solids are known to contain substantial levels of nutrients, there remains a continuing need for a semi-solid baby-food composition containing moderate to high levels of egg-yolk solids in a composition suitable for feeding to babies.
Among the nutrients which can be added to the infant diet in egg-yolk solid are the polyunsaturated fatty acids. One such polyunsaturated fatty acid, the xcfx89-3 fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has been shown to be a required nutrient for optimal maturation of visual and cortical function in human infants (See, for example, Hoffman et al., Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 57(suppl.):8075-12S, 1993; Makrides et al., Lancet 345:1463-1468, 1995). Although the minimum dietary amount of DHA required by infants has not been unequivocally established, the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization recommend 40 mg/kg body weight for preterm infants and 20 mg/kg for term infants (FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Fats and Oils in Human Nutrition, FAO 1994, Rome, pp. 52-55). For term infants this is about 70 mg at birth in about 420 calories and 140 mg at 6 months of age in about 700 calories.
Breast-fed infants receive DHA in their mother""s milk, which contains a full-complement of both xcfx89-6 and xcfx89-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (Hoffman et al, supra; Makrides et al., supra; Innis et al, Am. J. Clin. Nutr 60:347-352, 1994). However, the concentration of DHA in breast milk can vary substantially depending upon the amount of preformed DHA from meat and fish in the mother""s diet. Id. In addition, many infants are not breast-fed or are breast-fed only for a few weeks and must rely on infant formula and solid baby food for their nutritional requirements.
Current infant formulas available in the United States do not contain DHA (Jensen et al., J. Pediatr 131:200-209, 1997). Furthermore, solid foods fed to babies generally have little or no DHA so that the intake of fat from such solid foods does not increase plasma DHA levels as does breast feeding (Luukkainen, supra). Thus, it would be desirable to increase the dietary intake of DHA in babies and one way to accomplish this would be to increase the amount of DHA either in infant formula or in solid baby-food compositions.
Sources of DHA that have been added to infant formula to increase the content of DHA include marine oil, extracted egg-yolk lipids and lipids derived from animal tissue phospholipids (U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,285, Uauy, et al., .J Pediatr. 134:612-620, 1994; Makrides et al., supra; Carlson, J. Nutr.:126:10925-10985, 1996). However, marine oil tends to have a strong fishy taste and odor and thus is unsuitable for adding to infant formula or solid baby food. In addition, lipids extracted from egg yolk and animal tissue are susceptible to oxidative deterioration. Also, with respect to solid baby-food preparations, production of fish and/or animal oils requires extensive processing, so that the use of such processed oils in a baby-food composition would diverge from the xe2x80x9cwhole foodxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnatural foodxe2x80x9d concepts of baby food which is popular among caregivers.
One possibly suitable source of DHA that might be incorporated into a solid baby-food preparation is whole egg yolk. Although, hens"" eggs ordinarily contain only very low amounts of DHA, hens fed a diet enriched with DHA or DHA precursor can contain about 80 mg/egg yolk or about 10 mg/gram of egg-yolk solids. See Table 1, infra. Such DHA-enriched eggs have been developed as sources of DHA for human consumption (Herber et al., Poultry Sci 75:1501-1507, 1996; Oh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,879). Nevertheless, this earlier work provided no suggestion as to how such DHA-enriched eggs might be incorporated into an acceptable semi-solid baby-food preparation. Thus, there remains a continuing need for a semi-solid baby-food composition containing egg-yolk solids including egg-yolk solids from eggs enriched with a natural source of DHA, in a composition suitable for feeding to babies.
Accordingly, the inventors herein have succeeded in discovering how to produce acceptable baby-food composition containing 5 to 25% egg-yolk solids. Because egg yolks contain substantial levels of nutrients such as high quality protein with all of the essential amino acids, many vitamins and minerals, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, the baby-food compositions of the present invention are useful in contributing to the nutritional quality of the infant diet. Furthermore, egg-yolk solids can serve as delivery vehicles for nutrients such as the polyunsaturated fatty acid, DHA, if the eggs are produced by chickens fed diets high in DHA or DHA precursors.
Thus, in one embodiment, the present invention provides a novel baby-food composition containing from about 5% to about 25% egg-yolk solids. In one aspect of this embodiment, the egg-yolk solids are high in DHA content so as to provide nutritionally significant amounts of DHA in the infant diet in only one or two servings. As a result, the baby-food composition, preferably, contains at least 1 mg DHA per gram of the composition. Because the DHA in the baby-food compositions of the present invention is provided by egg yolk rather than by adding refined oils or fats, the compositions are whole food preparations. Furthermore, eggs containing high amounts of DHA have been consumed by humans for a number of years so that one would not anticipate encountering any unexpected adverse effects upon feeding compositions containing the DHA-enriched egg yolks to babies.
The new compositions are in an acceptable baby-food formulation which further comprises an acidulant selected from the group consisting of citric acid, phosphoric acid, vinegar or combinations thereof. As an alternative to or in addition to such acids, the acidulant can be comprised of a cultured food substance containing lactic acid as illustrated below in Examples 11 and 16 or one or more fruit or vegetable components which contribute acidity to the composition as illustrated below in Examples 4, 14, 15 and 16. Moreover, the compositions can contain additional ingredients including a zinc salt, a spice, an additional fruit or vegetable component which contributes organoleptic qualities such as flavor or aroma to the composition and a filler substance, such as starch or flour.
In another embodiment, the present invention comprises a method for increasing the nutritional intake of an infant. The method comprises feeding to the infant, a baby-food composition containing from about 5% to about 25% egg yolk. In one aspect of this embodiment, the composition contains at least 1 mg DHA per gram of the composition. The new compositions are in an acceptable baby-food formulation which further comprises an acidulant selected from the group consisting of citric acid, phosphoric acid, acetic acid or combinations thereof. As an alternative to or in addition to such acids, the acidulant can be comprised of a cultured food substance containing lactic acid as illustrated below in Examples 11 and 16 or one or more fruit or vegetable components which contribute acidity to the composition as illustrated below in Examples 4, 14, 15 and 16. The acidulant or combination of acidulants confers upon the composition of a pH of about 4.6 or less. Moreover, the compositions can contain additional ingredients including a zinc salt, a spice, an additional fruit or vegetable component which contributes organoleptic qualities such as flavor or aroma to the composition and a filler substance such as starch or flour.
The present invention, in still another embodiment, provides a method for preparing a baby-food composition containing egg-yolk solids. The method comprises (a) mixing egg-yolk solids and an aqueous liquid to produce an egg-yolk mixture, (b) coagulating egg-yolk protein in the mixture, and (c) homogenizing the coagulated egg-yolk mixture. The baby-food composition is prepared so that it contains from about 5% to about 25% egg-yolk solids. The method can further comprise adding an acidulant to adjust the pH to a value of about 4.6 or less. Preferably the acidulant is added as part of step (a) or after step (a) and before step (b). The acidulant is one that is acceptable for use in a baby-food formulation such as citric acid, phosphoric acid, vinegar or combinations thereof. As an alternative to or in addition to such acids, the acidulant can be comprised of a cultured food substance containing lactic acid as illustrated below in Examples 11 and 16 or one or more fruit or vegetable components which contribute acidity to the composition as illustrated below in Examples 4, 14, 15 and 16. The method can further comprise independently adding as part of step (a) or at any time thereafter, a zinc salt, a spice, an additional fruit or vegetable component which contributes organoleptic qualities such as flavor or aroma to the composition, a filler substance or a combination thereof.
Among the several advantages achieved by the present invention, therefore, may be noted the provision of a composition and method that can nutritionally enrich the infant diet by incorporating egg-yolk solids in the composition; the provision of compositions and methods that can serve as a source of DHA in the infant diet; the provision of such compositions in an acceptable baby-food formulation that meet applicable regulatory requirements as well as being acceptable to the baby and caregiver; and the provision of a new method for manufacturing a food composition containing egg-yolk solids.
The present invention is based upon the discovery that a significant amount of egg yolk can be incorporated into acceptable baby-food compositions. The term baby or infant as used herein is intended to mean a child in the first period of life generally considered to be in the age range of from birth to about four years and an acceptable baby-food composition is intended to encompass semi-solid food preparations designed for feeding to such baby or infant and meeting all of the regulatory and organoleptic requirements for such compositions. Although designed as baby-food compositions and referenced as such herein, the compositions within the present invention can, of course, be consumed by other population groups such as by individuals who are sick or those who have special nutritional requirements and, in particular, by geriatric individuals so long as the compositions are in an acceptable baby-food formulation.
The baby-food compositions of the present invention can comprise egg-yolk solids in an amount from about 5% to about 25% egg-yolk solids, more preferably, from about 6% or about 7% to about 25%, even more preferably from about 10% to about 20%, still more preferably, from about 12% to about 18%, even still more preferably from about 14% to about 16% and most preferably, about 15%. The term xe2x80x9caboutxe2x80x9d is intended to included variances of 0.5 percentage values above and below indicated values so that about 15% is intended to mean 14.5% to 15.5%.
The term egg-yolk solids is intended to mean the solids present in natural egg yolk or in dried egg-yolk products such as those commonly used as ingredients in the food industry. The egg-yolk solids can be in the yolk of a whole hen""s egg as separated from the shell or in an egg yolk separated from the whole hen""s egg or in a purified form in which some or all of the water has been removed from the egg yolk. The amount of solids in egg yolk from hens"" eggs and dried egg-yolk products, can be determined using known methods, and are typically about 46% and about 96%, respectively.
As noted above, certain baby-food compositions containing egg yolk are currently commercially available while other baby-food compositions containing egg yolk were available in the past but are no longer available. However, none of these compositions are believed to have contained from about 5% to about 25% egg-yolk solids (see Example 1 below).
In one embodiment, the egg-yolk solids contain high levels of DHA as a result of being produced from eggs laid by hens fed a diet enriched with DHA or DHA precursors such as one containing DHA from marine algae, fish oil or other source of DHA or alpha-linolenic acid from flaxseed or canola or soybean. (see, for example, Herber et al., supra; Oh, supra; Abril et al., International Conference on The Return of xcfx89-3 Fatty Acids Into the Food Supply: I. Land-Based Animal Food Products and Their Health Effects, Sep. 18-19, 1997; Scheideler et al., International Conference on The Return of xcfx89-3 Fatty Acids Into the Food Supply: I. Land-Based Animal Food Products and Their Health Effects, Sep. 18-19, 1997). Such DHA-enriched eggs are commercially available and their yolk solids can typically contain from about 9 to about 19 mg DHA/g. The amount of DHA in egg-yolk solids can be measured using methods known in the art (see Example 2 below). Preferably, the source of DHA-enriched egg yolk and/or the amount of DHA-enriched egg-yolk solids is selected such that the baby-food composition comprises sufficient DHA to provide the minimum daily recommended amount of about 20 mg/kg/day or about 70 mg for the newborn and about 140 mg for the 6 month infant in one or two servings. For example, a typical jar of commercial baby food for six month infants contains four ounces or 113 grams of baby-food composition. The composition can be prepared to contain 150 mg DHA per 100 g of baby food, which would amount to 165 mg DHA per jar. This amount of DHA could be provided by DHA-enriched egg yolks containing 12 mg of DHA per gram egg-yolk solids and the composition would thus contain 14 grams egg-yolk solids per jar or about 12.5% egg-yolk solids.
The egg yolk containing compositions of the present invention are in acceptable baby-food formulations. The terms acceptable baby-food formulation are used interchangeable herein with the terms acceptable baby-food composition and acceptable baby-food preparation. An acceptable baby-food formulation is one suitable for feeding to a baby and included within the meaning of the terms acceptable baby-food formulation is any regulatory agency requirements for foods intended for consumption by infants. For example, lactic acid and malic acid have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration and determined not to be generally recognized as safe for use in baby foods. (see 21 C.F.R. xc2xa7184.1061, xc2xa7184.1069). Thus, these acids would not be incorporated into an acceptable baby-food formulation. On the other hand, the use of citric acid and phosphoric acid have been determined to be generally recognized as safe (see 21 C.F.R. xc2xa7184.1033, xc2xa7182.1073). Therefore, these acids can be incorporated into an acceptable baby-food formulation.
In addition, an acceptable baby-food formulation is one whose overall combination of organoleptic characteristics, i.e., taste, mouthfeel/texture, odor and color/appearance, is sufficiently satisfactory that the infant will consume the formulation and the caregiver will serve the formulation to the infant. For example, infants are known to display an aversion to bitter tastes at a very early age and to strong flavors such as can be present in some vegetables (Trahms, in Nutrition in Infancy and Childhood, Pipes and Trahms, Eds, Mosby, St. Louis, 1993, pp. 181-194; Kajiura et al, Developmental Psychobiol 25:375-386; Rosenstein et al., Child Develop 59:1555-1568, 1988; Lowenberg, in Nutrition in Infancy and Childhood, Pipes and Trahms, Eds, Mosby, St. Louis, 1993, pp. 165-180; Brooks, supra; Lawless, supra; Ashbrook et al, J Nutrition Ed 17:5, 6, 46, 1985; Beal Pediatrics 20:448-456, 1957). Therefore, an acceptable formulation of a baby-food composition does not have a strong bitter taste or a strong flavor such as can be present in some vegetable preparations.
An acceptable baby-food formulation will also have a texture that is acceptable to the baby. For example, foods that are too dry or gritty are usually unacceptable to infants. In general, acceptable baby-food formulations will be smooth in texture. In addition, younger infants typically prefer food that is soft and homogenous. For older infants, however, a nonhomogenous texture may be desired. Because of such preferences, baby foods are typically produced in different forms, depending on the age of the intended consumer. For example, BEECH-NUT Stage 1 products are intended to be consumed by babies from about three months of age. BEECH-NUT Stage 2 products, which are strained and will pass through a 0.050xe2x80x3 orifice, are intended to be consumed by infants from about six months of age. Infants of about nine months of age and older are the intended consumers of BEECH-NUT Stage 3 Junior products, which have chunky components that will pass through a xe2x85x9c inch screen.
Preferably, the desired texture can be achieved using the whole food concept by mixing whole food preparations having the desired texture. The whole food concept involves minimal preparation of food components such as by cleaning, peeling and comminuting the food as distinguished from further processing such as by drying, milling into a flour and/or further refining.
Moreover, the color and appearance of the formulation are such that the infant or the adult caregiver will not reject the formulation. Acceptable colors tend to be light rather than dark. Preferably, acceptable color is achieved using the whole food concept in which food components are added which produce the desired color for the overall mixture. The appearance of the formulation should also be smooth and homogenous.
In addition, the composition should not produce adverse side effects such as acid indigestion, diarrhea, allergic responses or the like.
Testing a baby-food composition for organoleptic acceptability can be readily performed by the skilled artisan using routine methods such as those described in the Examples below. For example, since the adult perception of bitter tastes closely follows that in the infant (Lawless, J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 85:577-585, 1985) and since food preferences or aversions of the adult caring for the infant are known to influence which foods are offered to the infant (Trahms, in Nutrition in Infancy and Childhood, Pipes and Trahms, Eds, Mosby, St. Louis, 1993, pp. 181-194; Brooks, The Wall St J, Dec. 4, 1996 pp A1, A6), it is possible to conduct acceptability testing in adults. Standard testing procedures for sensory evaluation are known in the art including, in particular, a 9-point hedonic scale as described in Example 9 below (see Stone and Sidel in Sensory Evaluation Practices, Academic Press, Orlando, 1985, pp 58-86, 227-252). Sensory characteristics which can be tested include appearance and color, flavor, and mouthfeel and texture. Compositions scoring above neutral on a 9-point hedonic scale, i.e. 5.0 or greater, for at least one, more preferably two and most preferably all sensory characteristics of appearance/color, flavor and mouthfeel/texture are considered to be acceptable with respect to those attributes.
Testing for organoleptic acceptability in infants could be conducted, for example, after obtaining informed consent from parents in a double-blind, randomized controlled study. Infants of ages from about 4 months to about 12 months would be fed a series of baby-food compositions prepared containing, for example, 15% egg-yolk solids or a reference baby-food preparation known to be accepted by the infants such as, for example, BEECH-NUT and GERBER vanilla custard pudding products or GERBER cherry vanilla pudding product. The adult feeding the infant would then record acceptability and tolerance including amount offered, amount consumed and amount refused by the babies. Acceptability rating would be performed by methodology known in the art (for example, Stone and Sidel, supra). The results would be analyzed and compositions showing acceptance comparable to or greater than that of the reference baby food would be considered organoleptically suitable for use as an infant food.
The baby-food compositions of the present invention can also contain an aqueous liquid comprising water or a solution containing water. The aqueous liquid is added in an amount that confers a smooth texture on the composition as a whole. Preferred aqueous liquids include water, fruit juices such as apple juice, grape juice, orange juice, and the like and vegetable juices such as carrot juice, beet juice, celery juice, tomato juice and the like. The use of fruit juices and some vegetable juices can also provide a source of sugars for the composition.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention also contain an acidulant. The acidulant improves the texture and/or mouthfeel of the egg yolk containing compositions to produce a smooth texture. Furthermore, the addition of acidulant to achieve a pH of 4.6 or less permits the sterilization of the composition at a temperature of 212xc2x0 F. rather than at 250xc2x0 F. temperature required for compositions having a higher pH. This lower retorting temperature not only simplifies the manufacturing procedure, it improves the color of the processed baby-food composition and reduces any heat-induced breakdown of its nutrients compared to retorting at 250xc2x0 F. temperature required for compositions having a higher pH. The acidulant is, thus, preferably present in an amount sufficient to produce a post-processing pH of 4.6 or less and most preferably in the range of between 4.2 and 4.3.
The acidulant of the present invention can be any acid permitted under applicable regulatory agency rules for use in infant foods. In particular phosphoric acid, citric acid, vinegar, and combinations thereof are suitable for use in an acceptable baby-food preparation. As an alternative to or in addition to such acids, the acidulant can be comprised of a cultured food substance containing lactic acid as illustrated below in Examples 11 and 16 or one or more fruit or vegetable components which contribute acidity to the composition as illustrated below in Examples 4, 14, 15 and 16. Examples of cultured food substances containing lactic acid include, but are not limited to yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, sauerkraut and the like. Examples of suitable fruits or vegetables include, but are not limited to apples, pears, pineapples, strawberries, raspberries, elderberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, plums apricots, lemons, clementines, grapefruits, oranges, tomatoes, rhubarbs, sorrels, cress and the like. The fruit or vegetable component is preferably in the form of a puree or juice. The term juice as used herein is intended to include juices and concentrates thereof.
The acid should not make the composition organoleptically unacceptable nor should the acid deleteriously affect the infant in any way. Phosphoric acid, although acceptable in many embodiments, is sometimes less desirable for use in a baby-food compositions of the invention because it adds additional phosphorus to the diet as do the egg-yolk solids. Thus the use of phosphoric acid should be in amounts such that the total of phosphorus in the composition as a whole does not result in consumption by the infant exceeding the recommended daily intake for phosphorus of 500 mg. For preparations in which the composition as a whole would provide a daily intake of greater than 500 mg phosphorus because the egg-yolk solids or other components in addition to the phosphoric acid contribute excessive amounts of phosphorus, phosphoric acid would not be an acceptable acidulant.
The acidulant in the form of an added acid can also improve the taste of the composition, particularly, when in combination with a fruit puree or juice in the composition. Thus, the tartness of the acid can tend to provide a balance with fruit components or with added sugar in the composition.
The baby-food compositions of the invention can comprise ingredients which enhance the acceptability of the composition to an infant. For example, fruit(s) and/or vegetable(s), including purees and juices thereof can not only serve as acidulants as noted above, but they can also enhance the acceptability of the composition. As also noted above, the juices can serve to add water as can purees to a lesser extent. Both purees and juices can contribute sugars and additional desirable flavor components to the composition. Examples of suitable fruits that can be incorporated in puree or juice form include apples, pears, bananas, pineapples, strawberries, mangos, papayas and the like. Vegetables which can be incorporated in puree form can include sweet potato, beets, carrots, celery and the like.
Additionally, filler substances such as corn starch, rice flour, wheat flour, nonfat dry milk and the like can be included in the composition as can flavoring agents such as sugars, spices and the like. In particular, cinnamon can be included in the composition.
Other substances can additionally be added to the composition to improve the flavor of the composition. For example, zinc salts such as zinc sulfate or zinc chloride can tend to neutralize the sulfurous odor and taste of cooked egg yolk. In addition, the added zinc can provide a nutritionally significant source of zinc. In addition to zinc, other nutritional supplements such as vitamins and/or minerals can also be incorporated into the composition.
In certain embodiments, coloring agents, processing agents or preservative agents can also be added such as, for example, to improve color, taste, shelf life and the like.
Additional components of baby-food compositions within the scope of the present invention can include, for example, pasta preparations, meat preparations such as turkey or beef, other protein-containing foods and the like.
Preferably, the formulation is based upon a whole food concept such that individual constituents conferring the desired properties on the composition are prepared foods rather than dried and/or refined substances or artificially prepared substances. The whole foods are prepared such as by cleaning, peeling, and comminuting the whole food or part thereof. Examples of whole food components of baby-food compositions are fruit juices which can be used as a natural source of sugars and vegetables such as white carrots which can be used as fillers instead of a starch substance (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,166).
The present invention also provides a method of making the acceptable baby-food compositions described above. The method involves combining the desired quantity of egg-yolk solids, in the form of whole egg yolk or dried egg yolk or the like, with an aqueous liquid and blending to produce a mixture of smooth consistency. The aqueous liquid can be water or any of a number of fruit juices such as, for example, apple juice, grape juice, orange juice, and the like or vegetable juices such as carrot juice, beet juice, celery juice, tomato juice and the like. If dried egg yolks are used, it is necessary to use a sufficient amount of the aqueous liquid component to adequately disperse the egg-yolk solids in the mixture. The amount of egg-yolk solids in the composition as a whole is preferably from about 5% to about 25%, from about 6% or 7% to about 25%, from about 10% to about 20%, from about 12% to about 18%, and most preferably about 15%. The method can further comprise adding an acidulant to adjust the pH to a value of about 4.6 or less. The acidulant can be added to the initial mixture or after the blending the initial mixture. The acidulant is one that is acceptable for use in a baby-food formulation such as citric acid, phosphoric acid, vinegar or combinations thereof. As an alternative to or in addition to such acids, the acidulant can be comprised of a cultured food substance containing lactic acid as illustrated below in Examples 11 and 16 or one or more fruit or vegetable components which contribute acidity to the composition as illustrated below in Examples 4, 14, 15 and 16.
The blending, can be accomplished by manual stirring, a mixing machine, a blender or the like and this step can be performed before or after the addition of any desired additional ingredients. Such blending mixes the ingredients and ultimately produces a composition of smooth consistency.
Where additional ingredients are added to the composition such as a zinc salt, a fruit or vegetable puree or juice, a spice or a filler substance, such additions can be made at the time the egg-yolk solids and aqueous liquid are combined or at any appropriate time thereafter.
The blended egg-yolk mixture is then treated to coagulate the protein in the egg-yolk mixture. This coagulating step can be accomplished by heating the mixture at a temperature, preferably greater than 170xc2x0 F. and more preferably at least 175xc2x0 F. Complete coagulation of the egg protein can be ensured by heating at 180xc2x0 F. to 190xc2x0 F. for 5 minutes. Alternative methods can also be used to perform the coagulating step such as, for example, by microwaving the mixture.
The coagulated protein is then dispersed by homogenizing the coagulated mixture to a smooth consistency. Such homogenizing can be done, for example by using a blender. The homogenized mixture can then be placed in one or more containers, followed by sealing and heating the containers under conditions suitable for producing a shelf-stable composition. Such conditions can be readily determined by the skilled artisan and typically involve retorting for about 30 minutes at either 212xc2x0 F., for compositions having a pH of 4.6 or lower, or at 250xc2x0 F. for compositions having a pH greater than 4.6.
The baby-food compositions of the present invention have application for use as semi-solid preparations for infants. Because the compositions contain a significant amount of egg-yolk solids, they provide a food naturally rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, as well as containing some polyunsaturated fatty acids. In addition, if the compositions are prepared using eggs yolk solids containing high levels of DHA, the compositions provide nutritionally significant amounts of DHA in the infant""s diet, which is beneficial for visual and neural development in the infant.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the following examples. Other embodiments within the scope of the claims herein will be apparent to one skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and the examples that follow or from practice of the invention as disclosed herein.